TY  - JOUR
PY  - 2009//
TI  - Analysis of the childhood fatal drowning situation in Bangladesh: Exploring prevention measures for low-income countries
JO  - Injury prevention
A1  - Rahman, Annalise
A1  - Mashreky, Saidur Rahman
A1  - Chowdhury, S. M.
A1  - Giashuddin, M. S.
A1  - Uhaa, I. J.
A1  - Shafinaz, Shumona
A1  - Hossain, Mazeda
A1  - Linnan, Michael J.
A1  - Rahman, F.
SP  - 75
EP  - 79
VL  - 15
IS  - 2
N2  - OBJECTIVE: To determine the epidemiology of child drowning in order to propose possible interventions for Bangladesh and other similar low-income countries. DESIGN: Population-based cross-sectional study. SETTING: Rural and urban communities in Bangladesh. SUBJECTS: About 352,000 children 0-17 years were selected from over 171,000 households, using multistage cluster sampling. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Incidence of fatal drowning. RESULTS: Drowning was the leading cause of death (28.6 per 100,000 child-years) in children aged 1-17 years. The highest incidence (86.3 per 100,000 child-years) was in children aged 1-4 years. More than two-thirds of drownings occurred in ponds and ditches. Most drownings (85%) happened in daylight. In more than one-third of cases of drowning, the child was alone. In the two-thirds of cases in which the child was accompanied, almost half were with children who were 10 years or below. Only 7% of drowned children over 4 years of age knew how to swim. CONCLUSIONS: Drowning is a major cause of childhood mortality in Bangladesh. Creating drowning-safe homes, improving supervision of children, modifying the environment, and developing water safety skills for children and the community may be effective interventions for drowning prevention.<p />  <p>Language: en</p>
LA  - en
SN  - 1353-8047
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/ip.2008.020123
ID  - ref1
ER  -